Ruby

Ruby, the Jewel of the Mountain, is a new ore added with Explorercraft. It is found in the monolithic mountains of the Forested Mountain biome.

Generation
Ruby spawns both deep below the mountains at below y=50, as well as high up on the mountain's tops above y=70. It is a fairly common ore, with a rarity akin to iron ore. It should be noted that, due to the erratic terrain of the Forested Mountain, it's not uncommon to see Ruby Ore gleaming an angry red from the sides of the mountain.

Ruby can also spawn as a loot item in chests, found throughout the world. In these chests, you can also find its corresponding Horse Armor.

Tools
Ruby can be crafted into any vanilla tool, and despite its similar spawn rate to Iron, Ruby is a considerable improvement over it. Its mining speed is much quicker, and Ruby tools can withstand more wear than their Iron counterparts. The Ruby Sword also does slightly more damage than the Iron sword, which is enough to make a noticeable difference in combat.

Armor
The full Ruby armor set completely fills your armor bar, only differing from diamond in its lack of Armor Toughness. Interestingly, the Ruby Chestplate has the same armor rating as iron. The Ruby Helmet, Leggings, and Boots all provide better protection than their corresponding iron counterparts. Given the relative abundance of Ruby, there's no real need to be sparing in its use, though it would be tactically sound to craft the chestplate piece last.